More Spanish, por favor!

TRACI L. WEISENBACH

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, October 10, 2006

CASEVILLE  Eager kindergartners fixate on their teacher, Deb Fritz, who captures their undivided attention with a number game. After she hides plastic numbers around the room, she has students find and identify them. They beam with pride when they get it right. While this may sound like a typical thing kindergartners would do, consider this  theyre doing this activity in Spanish.

Fritz has been teaching Spanish at Caseville Public School for 16 years, including in the elementary. Five years ago, she started teaching Spanish to kindergartners. She said she started teaching Spanish from elementary through high school because the school administration asked her to, and shes enjoyed it from the start.

The Spanish language is already out there in cartoons (and other places) so many students come with prior knowledge, Fritz said. Some have relatives who speak Spanish.

She said because students are exposed to Spanish in so many different places, they should understand it early on rather than waiting until high school.

We felt that somewhere along the line, theyll be exposed to Spanish, and (learning it at an early age) puts them a little bit ahead. Theyre not afraid of it, she said about herself and school administration.

Indeed, Casevilles young students arent afraid of the language  they embrace it as if it was their native language. They seem to love the sound of the words, as if the words were a fun song.

As Fritz only has about 24 minutes with elementary students twice per week, she wastes no time in teaching and reviewing. As students enter her classroom, she counts them in Spanish, and many students count along with her.

Kindergartners start off with learning greetings, such as buenos dias (good day) and buenas noches (good night) and adios (good-bye). They also learn numbers, shapes and animals.

First grade students start learning the Spanish alphabet, which is a bit different from the English alphabet.

It can take a while to learn the alphabet, Fritz said.

Fritz uses a big screen television hooked to a laptop, and the laptop has a program with a voice prompt so students can hear a Spanish-speaking person speak numbers. First-graders also do a lively dance with a variety of hand motions to learn numbers.

During a recent lesson, students reviewed numbers and repeated what the voice prompt said. They could see the numbers they were practicing and higher numbers going all the way up to 100. They told their teacher they wanted to learn all the numbers to 100.

You guys dont want to learn that many do you? Fritz asked.

Yeah! the entire class exclaimed.

Fritz has students play games in which they convert numbers from English to Spanish and visa versa.

Along with the alphabet and numbers, first-graders learn some colors and the words for boy and girl, muchacho and muchacha. Students like the cha cha part of the word and start doing their own version of the cha cha.

Second-grade students build on what they learned in first grade, and in third and fourth grades, Fritz has students learn how to put conversations together. In fifth grade, she teaches students foods.

We do role playing in a restaurant where students order food in Spanish, she said, noting by the end of the year students role play in their own imaginary Mexican restaurant.

Each year, I try to build on what they learned the previous year, she said.

While she has goals for what she wants her students to learn each year, she doesnt set limits.

I let them go as far as they want, she said.

She said she has her students do special activities for Spanish holidays, such as Cinco de Mayo, so students get a touch of Spanish culture, too.

Fritz said she doesnt grade the younger students, but she does assess them.

I want to keep a running track of where each student is, she said. Its not always the brightest students who do the best.

She said she has special education students or students who struggle in other subjects do quite well in Spanish.

Fritz said she starts grading in eighth grade, and she starts giving out Spanish textbooks above sixth grade. Also in sixth grade, she teaches Spanish for a whole class period instead of just 24 minutes.

The new high school graduation requirements approved by the state legislature require students to have two years of a foreign language. These two years dont have to be taken in high school; they can be taken prior to high school. Fritz said Caseville students can get two years of Spanish between sixth and eighth grades.

One who sees the excitement of Fritzs elementary students can easily recognize how much they love learning the language.

Its something new and different, she said. My class isnt as structured as their other classes where they have to sit still. Here, they can get up and move around. I try to horse around a little bit. It does help (students be excited about the language).

Because Caseville students are exposed to Spanish for several years, they often continue with Spanish classes in high school. Spanish is an elective in high school rather than a required course.

Some students go on to be Spanish teachers, Fritz said.

She said other students take Spanish in college along with other courses such as business or law.

It always makes me feel good that they liked it enough to keep going, she said.

Fritz said what also makes her feel good is having elementary students greet her in Spanish when they see her at school or in public.